CHAPTER 7:

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
• Stress and strain: What are they and why are
they used instead of load and deformation?
• Elastic behavior: When loads are small, how much
deformation occurs? What materials deform least?
• Plastic behavior: At what point do dislocations
cause permanent deformation? What materials are
most resistant to permanent deformation?
• Toughness and ductility: What are they and how
do we measure them?
• Ceramic Materials: What special provisions/tests are
made for ceramic materials? 1
 ELASTIC DEFORMATION
1. Initial 2. Small load 3. Unload

bonds
stretch

return to
initial

F

Elastic means reversible!

2
 PLASTIC DEFORMATION
(METALS)
1. Initial 2. Small load 3. Unload

Plastic means permanent! linear linear

elastic elastic

plastic
3
 ENGINEERING STRESS
• Tensile stress, s: • Shear stress, t:

Ft
s
Ao
original area
before loading Stress has units:
N/m2 or lb/in2

4
 ENGINEERING STRAIN
• Tensile strain: • Lateral strain:
/2

Lo
wo
/2
L/2 L/2
• Shear strain:
/2

 = tan  Strain is always

dimensionless.
/2 - 

/2 /2
8
 STRESS-STRAIN TESTING
• Typical tensile specimen
Adapted from Fig. 6.2,
Callister 6e.
• Other types of tests:
--compression: brittle
materials (e.g., concrete)
--torsion: cylindrical tubes,
shafts.
• Typical tensile
test machine
Adapted from Fig. 6.3, Callister 6e.
(Fig. 6.3 is taken from H.W. Hayden,
W.G. Moffatt, and J. Wulff, The
Structure and Properties of
Materials, Vol. III, Mechanical
Behavior, p. 2, John Wiley and Sons,
New York, 1965.)
9
 LINEAR ELASTIC PROPERTIES
• Modulus of Elasticity, E:
(also known as Young's modulus)

• Hooke's Law:
s=Ee
• Poisson's ratio, n:

metals: n ~ 0.33
ceramics: ~0.25
polymers: ~0.40
Units:
E: [GPa] or [psi]
n: dimensionless
10
 OTHER ELASTIC PROPERTIES
t M
• Elastic Shear
modulus, G:
G simple
1  torsion
t=G test

M
• Elastic Bulk P
modulus, K:
P P
pressure
test: Init.
vol =Vo.
• Special relations for isotropic materials: Vol chg.
= DV
E E
G K
2(1  n) 3(1  2n)
12
 YOUNG’S MODULI:
COMPARISON
Graphite
Metals Composites
Ceramics Polymers
Alloys /fibers
Semicond
1200
1000 Diamond
800
600
Si carbide
400 Tungsten Al oxide Carbon fibers only
Molybdenum Si nitride
E(GPa) 200
Steel, Ni
Tantalum <111>
Si crystal
CFRE(|| fibers)*
Platinum
Cu alloys <100> Aramid fibers only
100 Zinc, Ti
80 Silver, Gold Glass-soda AFRE(|| fibers)*
Aluminum Glass fibers only
60
Magnesium, GFRE(|| fibers)*
40 Tin
Concrete

109 Pa 20 GFRE*
CFRE*
Graphite GFRE( fibers)*
10
8 CFRE( fibers)*
6 AFRE( fibers)*
Polyester
4 PET
PS
PC Epoxy only
2
PP
1 HDPE
0.8
0.6 Wood( grain)
PTFE
0.4

0.2 LDPE
13
 PLASTIC (PERMANENT)
DEFORMATION
(at lower temperatures, T < Tmelt/3)

• Simple tension test:

15
 YIELD STRENGTH, sy
• Stress at which noticeable plastic deformation has
occurred.
when ep = 0.002
tensile stress, s
sy

engineering strain, e
ep = 0.002
16
YIELD STRENGTH: COMPARISON
sy(ceramics)
>>sy(metals)
>> sy(polymers)

Room T values
Based on data in Table B4,
Callister 6e.
a = annealed
hr = hot rolled
ag = aged
cd = cold drawn
cw = cold worked
qt = quenched & tempered

17
 TENSILE STRENGTH, TS
• Maximum possible engineering stress in tension.

Adapted from Fig. 6.11,

Callister 6e.

• Metals: occurs when noticeable necking starts.

• Ceramics: occurs when crack propagation starts.
• Polymers: occurs when polymer backbones are
aligned and about to break.
18
TENSILE STRENGTH:
COMPARISON

TS(ceram)
~TS(met)
~ TS(comp)
>> TS(poly)
Room T values
Based on data in Table B4,
Callister 6e.
a = annealed
hr = hot rolled
ag = aged
cd = cold drawn
cw = cold worked
qt = quenched & tempered
AFRE, GFRE, & CFRE =
aramid, glass, & carbon
fiber-reinforced epoxy
composites, with 60 vol%
fibers.
19
 DUCTILITY, %EL
L f  Lo
• Plastic tensile strain at failure: %EL  x100
Lo

Adapted from Fig. 6.13,

Callister 6e.

Ao  A f
• Another ductility measure: %AR  x100
Ao
• Note: %AR and %EL are often comparable.
--Reason: crystal slip does not change material volume.
--%AR > %EL possible if internal voids form in neck.
20
 TOUGHNESS
• Energy to break a unit volume of material
• Approximate by the area under the stress-strain
curve.
Engineering smaller toughness (ceramics)
tensile larger toughness
stress, s (metals, PMCs)

smaller toughness-
unreinforced
polymers

Engineering tensile strain, e

21
 HARDENING
• An increase in sy due to plastic deformation.

• Curve fit to the stress-strain response:

22
 MEASURING ELASTIC MODULUS
• Room T behavior is usually elastic, with brittle failure.
• 3-Point Bend Testing often used.
--tensile tests are difficult for brittle materials.
Adapted from Fig.
12.29, Callister 6e.

• Determine elastic modulus according to:

F L3 F L3
E 
3
 4bd  12R 4
rect. circ.
cross cross
section section
23
 MEASURING STRENGTH
• 3-point bend test to measure room T strength.
cross section F
L/2 L/2 Adapted from Fig.
d R 12.29, Callister 6e.

b
rect. circ.

location of max tension

• Flexural strength: • Typ. values:

Material sfs(MPa) E(GPa)
fail 1.5FmaxL FmaxL
s fs  s m   Si nitride 700-1000 300
bd2 R3 Si carbide 550-860 430
rect. Al oxide 275-550 390
glass (soda) 69 69
Data from Table 12.5, Callister 6e.

24
 TENSILE RESPONSE: ELASTOMER
CASE
Stress-strain curves
adapted from Fig.
15.1, Callister 6e.
Inset figures along
elastomer curve
(green) adapted from
Fig. 15.14, Callister
6e. (Fig. 15.14 is from
Z.D. Jastrzebski, The
Nature and Properties
of Engineering
Materials, 3rd ed.,
John Wiley and Sons,
1987.)

• Compare to responses of other polymers:

--brittle response (aligned, cross linked & networked case)
--plastic response (semi-crystalline case)
25
 T AND STRAIN RATE:
THERMOPLASTICS
• Decreasing T...
--increases E
--increases TS
--decreases %EL

• Increasing
strain rate...
--same effects
as decreasing T.

Adapted from Fig. 15.3, Callister 6e. (Fig. 15.3 is from T.S. Carswell
and J.K. Nason, 'Effect of Environmental Conditions on the
Mechanical Properties of Organic Plastics", Symposium on Plastics,
American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA, 1944.)

26
 TIME DEPENDENT
DEFORMATION
• Stress relaxation test: • Data: Large drop in Er
(amorphous
--strain to eo and hold. for T > Tg. polystyrene)
--observe decrease in Adapted from Fig.
stress with time. 15.7, Callister 6e.
(Fig. 15.7 is from
A.V. Tobolsky,
Properties and
Structures of
Polymers, John
Wiley and Sons,
Inc., 1960.)

• Relaxation modulus: • Sample Tg(C) values:

s(t ) PE (low Mw) -110
Er (t )  PE (high Mw) - 90
eo PVC + 87
Selected values
from Table 15.2,
PS +100 Callister 6e.

PC +150
27
 HARDNESS
• Resistance to permanently indenting the surface.
• Large hardness means:
--resistance to plastic deformation or cracking in
compression.
--better wear properties.

Adapted from Fig. 6.18, Callister 6e. (Fig. 6.18 is adapted from G.F. Kinney, Engineering Properties
and Applications of Plastics, p. 202, John Wiley and Sons, 1957.)
28
 DESIGN OR SAFETY FACTORS
• Design uncertainties mean we do not push the limit.
• Factor of safety, N Often N is
sy between
s working  1.2 and 4
N

• Ex: Calculate a diameter, d, to ensure that yield does

not occur in the 1045 carbon steel rod below. Use a
factor of safety of 5.
sy
s working 
N
220,000N
  5

 d / 4 
2
 

29
 Thermal Expansion
Materials change size when temperature
is changed
Tinitial
 initial
Tfinal > Tinitial
Tfinal
 final

 final   initial
 α (Tfinal  Tinitial )
 initial
linear coefficient of
thermal expansion (1/K or 1/°C)

25
 Atomic Perspective: Thermal Expansion

Asymmetric curve: Symmetric curve:

-- increase temperature, -- increase temperature,
-- increase in interatomic -- no increase in interatomic
separation separation
-- thermal expansion -- no thermal expansion
26
 Coefficient of Thermal Expansion: Comparison

Material a (10-6/C)
at room T
• Polymers
Polypropylene 145-180 Polymers have larger
Polyethylene 106-198 a values because of
Polystyrene 90-150 weak secondary bonds
Teflon 126-216
• Metals • Q: Why does a
increasing a

Aluminum 23.6 generally decrease

Steel 12 with increasing
Tungsten 4.5 bond energy?
Gold 14.2
• Ceramics
Magnesia (MgO) 13.5
Alumina (Al2O3) 7.6
Soda-lime glass 9
Silica (cryst. SiO2) 0.4
27
 Thermal Stresses
• Occur due to:
-- restrained thermal expansion/contraction
-- temperature gradients that lead to differential
dimensional changes

Thermal stress s

 Ea (T0 Tf )  Ea DT


28
 SUMMARY
• Stress and strain: These are size-independent
measures of load and displacement, respectively.
• Elastic behavior: This reversible behavior often
shows a linear relation between stress and strain.
To minimize deformation, select a material with a
large elastic modulus (E or G).
• Plastic behavior: This permanent deformation
behavior occurs when the tensile (or compressive)
uniaxial stress reaches sy.
• Toughness: The energy needed to break a unit
volume of material.
• Ductility: The plastic strain at failure.

Note: For materials selection cases related to

mechanical behavior, see slides 20-4 to 20-10.
30